The prestigious annual Rose D'Or Awards (now in their 55th year) honour the very best of international radio, TV and online entertainment programmes, and the awards ceremony took place last night (Tuesday, September 13th 2016). Over 400 programmes from more than 130 broadcasters and production companies in 33 different countries were submitted for this year’s Rose d’Or awards. For the first time, a new competition category, 'Radio Event Of The Year' was created. We entered European Dawn Chorus in this category, and we're absolutely delighted to let you know that ... drumroll... WE WON!!! We're absolutely thrilled to pieces, and a massive thanks to all our EBU and BirdLife International partners, we couldn't have done it without you! Click here to read more about the 2016 Rose D'Or awards (in which legendary funnyman John Cleese picked up the Lifetime Achievement award), and click here to relive - and re-listen to - all the beautiful Dawn Chorus birdsong from right across Europe.

***STOP PRESS*** Dawn Chorus Picks Up Another Award!

We're thrilled to let you know that on Friday, October 7th, the Dawn Chorus won the Innovation Award at the PPI Radio Awards in Kilkenny!

Mooney

On Mooney today...

Comedian Alan Shortt joins Marty for a chat, we speak to the former RTÉ journalist who now lives in one of Brazil's many poor and dangerous suburbs, and we reveal which school in Munster has won a year's supply of electricity!

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Alan Shortt

Most of us are familiar with Alan Shortt’s satirical sketch show Bull Island, broadcast on RTÉ in the late 1990s. But what you may not know about this actor, comedian, presenter and now public speaking coach, is that he has had a tough few years. He joins Marty in studio today to talk us through the ups and downs of showbiz - tells us about his new passion in life...

Book On Brazil As Gaelige by Alex Hijmans

Alex Hijmans is a Dutch journalist, who lived in Ireland, wrote and spoke as Gaelige, and has now made his home in Brazil! Now he's briefly back in Ireland to launch his new book, which tells the story of his newly adopted homeland in a hundred photographs and a hundred short essays... in Irish.

Brasil will of course host the 2014 World Cup next year, and Rio de Janeiro will stage the Olympic Games in 2016. The country is emerging as a new superpower, with the sixth biggest economy in the world. From the football to the samba to the beauty of the Pantanal and Amazon, this huge country is rich in variety, all beautifully portrayed in Splancanna Ó Shaol Eile.

For more information about Splancanna Ó Shaol Eile, by Alex Hijmans, click here.

Alex will be lecturing at the IMRAM Irish Language Literature Festival on Wednesday, October 16th at 6pm. The venue is Cois Tealaigh: 46, Kildare St, Dublin.

Fuel Your School - Munster Winner!

It's Wednesday, and it's Day Three of our Fuel Your School competition finals, in association with Electric Ireland and Green Star. On Monday, Terry Flanagan revealed the Connaught winner. Yesterday, it was Ulster, and Richard Collins reported back from Letterkenny, in County Donegal.

Today, it's time to reveal which school has the best green credentials in Munster. And who better to make that judgement then Ireland's best loved botanist, President of the Tree Council of Ireland, and regular Friday panellist on Mooney Goes Wild: the one and only Eanna ni Lamhna.

And the winner is: Ardfert Central National School, just north of Tralee, in County Kerry! The principal of the school is Betty Stack, and today Eanna went to meet Betty and the pupils of Ardfert...

Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.

UPDATE: February 29th 2016 - Press Release From BirdWatch Ireland:

Putting the record straight: Dates for burning and hedge-cutting have NOT changed

BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland’s largest conservation charity, is very concerned about misinformation that is currently circulating regarding the dates within which the burning of vegetation and cutting of hedges is permitted. It would like to remind landowners that all burning and cutting must cease on 29th February this year and that burning and cutting remains prohibited from 1st March to 31st August.

Despite attempts by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys T.D., to change the laws regulating these dates by introducing the Heritage Bill 2016 earlier this year, it is important to note that the proposed date changes were ultimately NOT made. This is because the bill failed to pass through both houses of the Oireachtas before the recent dissolution of the Dáil in advance of the general election.

The laws in place governing the dates for hedge-cutting and upland burning therefore remain unchanged. The period within which cutting and burning is prohibited are set down in Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 (as amended in 2000), which states that:

(a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.
(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection (above).

The existing law provides exemptions for road safety and other circumstances and should be read carefully to ensure compliance.

Section 40 of the Wildlife Act exists to protect nesting birds. Many of our upland bird species are in decline and are in danger of extinction in Ireland; amongst them is the Curlew, which has declined by 80%. Many birds which nest in hedgerows into August are also in serious decline, including the endangered Yellowhammer. The changes to the cutting and burning dates which had been proposed in the now-defunct Heritage Bill 2016 would have caused serious impacts to these birds. A petition launched by BirdWatch Ireland in conjunction with several other national conservation organisations to stop these changes attracted more than 16,200 signatures and rising.

BirdWatch Ireland would also like to advise members of the public that if they see hedges being cut or fires in the uplands on or after 1st March, such activity could be illegal. In such cases, we would encourage people to contact the National Parks and Wildlife Service (www.npws.ie) to report such activity.

BirdWatch Ireland warmly welcomes the demise of the Heritage Bill 2016 and sincerely hopes that any future administration will consider the importance of Ireland’s natural heritage and will not attempt to reintroduce such a flawed and damaging piece of legislation.

RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster.RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Images courtesy of Inpho.ie and Getty Images.